Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Clueless Hoosiers. Sigh!

Amending the Indiana constitution is merely an attempt by the GOP "to keep GLBT folks in second-class citizenship status" (as Sheila Kennedy puts it). She writes: "...the most high-profile battle of this session–HJR 3–has given the rest of the country the impression that Hoosiers are 19th Century yahoos determined to buck the headwinds of change."

and

Here's how the Daily Kos looks at it: "Things are falling apart for Indiana's chief bigot, state House Speaker Brian Bosma. He's the guy who's trying to ram an extreme anti-marriage equality constitutional amendment through the state legislature.

"When his fellow Republicans in the judiciary committee rebelled against the amendment, Bosma yanked it from that committee and put it in a friendlier one. He figured it would sail through there, and it pretty much did. But then he hit the wall of opposition from fellow Republicans in the full House.

"With a 52-43 vote, the House removed the worst part of the amendment, a provision that would have banned civil unions and could have ended protections for straight, unmarried couples in civil unions.

"That's triggering a delay, meaning that even if both chambers of the General Assembly pass the revised amendment, it likely won't go before voters until 2016."

This Indianapolis Observer hopes that maybe, just maybe, the Hoosier State will have joined the 21st Century by then.